Transcript
"They have become an enemy of government. They claim the freedom of media should be allowed, should be the same with any other media in Tonga but they should understand there is a basic difference between a private media and also government media. Their main role, to me, is to facilitate the work of the government."
Those were the comments that signalled a growing rift in the relationship between Mr Pohiva and the Tonga Broadcasting Commission, the TBC. A consultant with the TBC says the comments and threats to allow another company to take over its services affected its news coverage. The TBC chair and general manager were also sacked. Laumanu Petelo says staff were initially intimidated.
"As to changing our stories to focus more on things that will be positive to government, rather than getting stories that are balanced and unbiased. So we felt that we were kind of changing our roles to try to fit in to what the prime minister and government wanted."
However Ms Petelo says she feels, with court proceedings and media coverage of the affair, things are starting to improve. The acting general manager Mele Kamoto says uncertainty remains.
"Oh I'm sort of, if I can say, sort of unbalanced myself because you don't really know what's the future of TBC and what would be the effect, especially on us management staff."
New chair 'Ahongalu Fushimalohi says it is his job to clean up the TBC's act, in terms of revenue and infrastructure, but also in terms of news coverage.
"There can be no political interference, which is guaranteed under our Constitution and the government is aware of that, but to say label us en enemy, they are actually referring to some news pieces that they believe are not correct and I have to look into it."
Mr Fushimalohi says he is reviewing the TBC from top to bottom. Meanwhile prominent publisher Kalafi Moala says the saga has impacted the whole media landscape.
"You've got media that have kind of moved back to a position where their criticism of government or government policy has kind of been softened up and then you have media that have crossed the line and gone over and become a government puppet. There has been a culture of fear in the media and it is not just a fear of media freedom. It is a fear of if government doesn't support them, they are going to go down financially. Government is still the biggest advertiser in the country."
However chair of the Tonga Media Council, Pesi Fonua, says while he doesn't condone the prime minister's actions he says life goes on for other media. Mr Fonua says there has always been a split of pro and anti government media outlets in Tonga.
"It's almost like a party politics, party's paper. They support this and they support that, but it still has a benefit in a way. That's how I look at it and I mean it is up to you what you want to read but you have all different views so if you look at it squarely, you can have good coverage of what's happening."
Mr Fonua also says nowhere has news coverage like Nuku'alofa where he says there are five newspapers to cater for a population of about 40,000. But a political researcher believes the media saturation may be problematic. Tevita Motulalo from the Royal Oceania Institute.
"You see certain media outlets siding with this government and previous governments had a whole lot of different allies in the media and so we lose the integrity of information so no wonder the electorate, the community is in tatters and confused."
'Akilisi Pohiva has indicated he believes the TBC feud is over, however former general manager Nanise Fifita is currently before the courts seeking reinstatement.
